> Doing something for the first time, almost by definition, means one does not really know what one is doing and is going to do it somewhat wrong. The Mythical

> Doing something for the first time, almost by definition, means one does not really know what one is doing and is going to do it somewhat wrong. The Mythical Man-Month has a chapter on this titled "Prepare to throw one away". Brooks argues, that the program/OS/whatever you build the first time around should be considered a prototype. Then you reflect on what problems you encountered, what went well, and so on and use those insights to guide you when start over. It seems like such an obvious idea, but Brooks wrote that almost 50 years ago, and it seems like only very few people listened. Primarily, I guess, because much software is already written under highly optimistic schedules - telling management and/or customers that you want to throw the thing out and start over is not going to make you popular.